


show me the one i need the most

by elenamichaels



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Hockey Player(s), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8988115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenamichaels/pseuds/elenamichaels
Summary: Patrick's dog gets loose and Jonny finds her, and then Patrick kind of finds Jonny.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runphoebe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runphoebe/gifts).



> Based on the prompt: Patrick thought he’d lost his beloved dog forever when she snuck out the back gate on his asshole neighbor’s watch. Sure, she’d spent the majority of her time chewing up his sneakers and obstinately refusing the simplest command, but she was his, okay? A year later, he moves to a new neighborhood about a mile away and is stunned to see his precious pooch being walked by the hottest guy he’s seen all year. Shock, however, yields to outrage when Patrick watches her sit, beg, heel, and walk dutifully beside her new owner on command. Oh, there’s no fucking way he’s going to let this stand.
> 
> to my recipient, runphoebe, I thought this prompt was so cute and I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas!!!

Patrick saw the ridiculously hot guy who lives in his new neighborhood the day he first moved in, and he had simply nodded at Patrick when their eyes met. No friendly smile or welcome to the neighborhood, which he might have been more offended by if he hadn’t had such a hard time tearing his eyes away from the guy's ass as he walked on by. But they hadn’t crossed paths in the couple of weeks since, as Patrick had been working long hours while he was adjusting to his new job and not really existing on a schedule that most people would consider normal.

When he sees him again, he’s out getting his mail on a Saturday morning and he looks up and suddenly there’s the hot guy on the other side of the street, in shorts that look criminally good on him, showing off thick thighs and his ridiculous ass while the sheen of sweat just makes him look like he might as well be glistening. 

Patrick was so wrapped up in just looking at this dude that he almost missed the dog sitting patiently by his feet as an older woman from the neighborhood talked to the guy, and oh, of course he has a cute dog. The dog actually looks oddly familiar, now that he’s focused his attention away from the guy holding its leash. It’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, he knows the breed well after spending several weeks staring at the impassive face of one, and then several months sharing pictures of and looking for her after she got away from him. This dog is actually colored pretty similarly to his Mads too, a primarily black coat with some white and brown around her face and stomach, and—no, she’s not just similar. She’s identical.

Patrick fumbled around in his pocket for his phone, quickly pulling up a picture of Mads. She’s smaller in the picture, it was a little over a year ago, but all of her features look practically the same, and he can’t shake the feeling that the dog he thought he lost forever is standing right there across the street from him.

Not only on that, she’s sitting there, perfectly still and patient as ever, waiting on her owner. Her behavior is really the only thing making Patrick hesitate in believing that this is his dog, because in the couple of weeks he had Mads she only ever looked that calm when she was sleeping. Every time he tried to take her for a walk, she was all over the place and she would bark at pretty much anything, including every person they passed, other dogs, a stray leaf being blown around in the wind, and a couple of times Patrick himself. The dog in front of him is watching a squirrel scurry around a tree with mild interest, but she doesn’t move. 

He looked between her and the hot guy, wondering what the hell he had done to his overexcited, stubborn little dog?

Logically, Patrick knew that there was a chance this dog wasn’t actually his, and even if she was, there was probably no way to prove it and he couldn’t exactly demand that this guy give him his dog back; though this neighborhood was only a little over a mile away from his old place, so it made sense that she could have ended up here, and Patrick found himself making his way across the street before he could really give it a second thought. 

He approached the guy and the older woman with a smile, and started with, “Hey, cute dog. Mind if I pet her?”

As soon as the guy gave him the go ahead with a nod of his head, Patrick was crouching down, running his hand over the dog’s back and hoping that she would actually somehow show that she recognized him or something, but she mostly just continued to look around, seemingly unconcerned with his presence.

The woman introduced herself and Patrick managed a half-hearted greeting back, still staring at the dog in the hope that she would somehow confirm her identity for him. He took in her collar, which was a dark blue instead of the bright red one he had, and had a tag displaying the name Max.

When he straightened back up, the woman was now gone and he’s left standing there with the hot guy looking back at him, an unreadable expression on his face. Patrick had a feeling this interaction was not going to go down in any of the ways he might have fantasized about it in the weeks since he first saw him. 

“How long have you had her?” He asked, thinking maybe he could at least confirm if the timeline checked out.

It did, Patrick learned, as this guy told him all about how he found _Max_ a year ago, and that his name is “Jonny, by the way”.

He pauses, giving Patrick the chance to offer his name in return, contribute something to the conversation, but he couldn’t help but blurt out, “uh, I think that’s my dog.”

Jonny opened his mouth and then closed it again, clearly caught off guard, staring at Patrick for a long moment before he said, “what?”

“Uh, your dog?” Patrick gestured to the dog in question, who was still sitting obediently at Jonny’s feet. “Well she was actually mine, before you found her.”

“But you just moved here,” Jonny pointed out with a frown.

“I did, but my old place was only like a mile over and my asshole neighbor left my gate open and she got out.”

Jonny went quiet again, taking this information in. “How do you know she’s yours?”

Patrick shrugged. “I don’t know, man, I just do. She looks the exact same. Hold on, I still have a bunch of pictures.” He still had an album on his phone full of them, he just never had the heart to delete them, even if he never did see her again. He pulled them up on his phone before handing it over to Jonny, gesturing for him to swipe through them.

Jonny did, looking from Patrick’s phone to the dog in front of him as if expecting to confirm it was her in the same way Patrick had tried to do.

“You’re right,” Jonny said with a sigh as he held Patrick’s phone back out to him. “That does look just like her.”

Patrick pocketed his phone and Jonny’s frown deepened as he added, “She didn’t have a tag when I found her.”

Patrick could practically feel the judgment coming off of him, and he still looked stupid hot, and it just made him feel more defensive. “I was getting around to it!”

Jonny still looked thoroughly unimpressed with him, and Patrick wanted to add that he hadn’t had her for very long, but he had a feeling that Jonny would tell him he’d had one made the same day he found her or something so he stayed quiet.

“Look,” Jonny starts when they’re on the verge of an awkwardly long silence. “I don’t know if you’re expecting to get her back or—”

“No, no,” Patrick interrupted him. “She seems happy with you.” Jonny gave him the hint of a smile at that. “And she never listened to me anyway, and I mean,” the _look at her now_ goes unsaid as Patrick gestured to her.

Jonny shrugged. “She just needed some training.”

Patrick gaped at that. It wasn’t like he didn’t _try._

“Nah, I think it’s all you. Maybe this is actually like some kind of Stepford neighborhood. Even the dogs are perfectly behaved.”

Jonny nodded. “You’re right. This is a strange place where dogs can actually learn simple commands.”

“I knew it wasn’t me!” Patrick pumped his fist, earning a laugh from Jonny. “I actually did try though, dude. She just wasn’t having it.”

Jonny snorted and bent down at his knees to scratch around her ears. “I think he’s trying to make you look bad, Max.”

Patrick shook his head. “I think it’s more like the other way around.” He was actually pretty sure of that, but he found himself bending down too to rub Mads’, or _Max’s_ , back because hey, the guy might have taken his dog and somehow made her into the picture of obedience that Patrick was still suspicious of, but Jonny was really hot and he wasn’t about to pass up a chance to be this close to him.

“You can come see her sometime, if you want,” Jonny offered with a glance over at Patrick. “I take her for a walk most mornings, too, my house is right down that way,” he added with a shrug, and Patrick couldn’t really get a read on him to determine whether or not the offer was just friendly or more than, but he’s willing to find out.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” He ran his hand over Max’s back once more, realizing he had reached a point of looking at Jonny more than actually petting his dog.

Patrick makes it back inside his house with Jonny’s number and an open invitation to come over to his place sometime, officially to see Max, unofficially to spend more time with Jonny. It felt like a productive Saturday already. 

 

A couple of Saturdays later Patrick is in his kitchen, leaning over his countertop as he sipped his coffee and scrolled through Twitter before it was time to meet Jonny for brunch when he heard a scratching sound against his backdoor. He put his cup down and went over to investigate, and a quick look out the window revealed the source. _Max_.

Just as he was about to open the door and let her in, his phone started ringing.

“Jonny, hey—”

“Patrick, oh my god, have you left yet? I’m going looking for Max,” Jonny responded in a rush. “She got out and I can’t find her, _shit_.”

“Actually, I’m looking at her right now.” Max was still sitting in front of his door, waiting patiently to be let in, and he finally opened the door for her.

There was a pause on Jonny’s end. Patrick took the moment to bend down and pet Max, which she allowed him to do for a few moments before she wandered off. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, she ended up in my backyard. I just let her inside,” Patrick said as he followed after her, because while she really had seemed like a completely different dog in the last couple of weeks he’d spent around her and Jonny, he still remembered the little terror who chewed up his shoes and spite peed on his rug all too well.

“Oh thank god. I’m on my way over now.”

Patrick followed Max into his living room where she was currently sniffing around.“Okay, but you know what this means right?”

“What?” Jonny asked with a sigh, like it pained him to do so but he knew that he had to.

“Max totally loves me more. She’s leaving you, she’s coming back to me.” Patrick was willing to totally ignore the fact that it made sense for Max to end up in his yard if she got away from Jonny because after that first week they'd gotten into a routine of Jonny and Max stopping at Patrick's house for him to join them most days when he took her on a walk, but he still had to rub it in for all the shit Jonny gave him.

He didn't think it was too much of a stretch to imagine Jonny was rolling his eyes. “Yeah yeah, I’ll see you soon.”

“Alright, but she might not want to leave with you, you should prepare yourself,” Patrick said very seriously.

“Patrick," Jonny started flatly. "I’m coming to get my dog back, and then I’ll take your annoying ass to get breakfast.”

“Deal,” Patrick affirmed before he hung up. He was glad that Jonny actually wasn’t there yet so he wasn't able to see the ridiculous smile he couldn’t manage to tamp down just then. Though his equally judgey dog was at Patrick’s feet. 

“Hey,” he said as he brought a hand down to rub over her back again. “You do really love me the most though, right?” 

She did absolutely nothing to acknowledge his presence or question.

“That’s what I thought.” Patrick accepted her non-answer happily, because it had to be true because Jonny was the worst, and because he was kind of stupid happy with his terrible sort of boyfriend.


End file.
